Bane (21 page)

“Maren, it’s okay to be nervous.”

My leg bounced a million miles an hour. “I know. I just … it’s just … I don’t want it to be true.”

“I don’t want it to be either, angel.”

“What am I going to say? How do I act?”

Bane looked pensively out on the road. “Don’t give any weather or geographic indicators. Talk to him like nothing is going on. Ask him if he got the money to pay his loan shark.”

“Did you send him money? There’s no way my two days with Discrete Encounters covers the debt.”

Bane glanced at me for a second. “I would have, but didn’t since I’m pretty sure Eric and his crew have him. But, your brother is obsessed with money. It may knock him off guard enough to give something away.” More knots formed in my stomach. “Maren, if you’re uncomfortable with this, it’s okay.”

“No. I need a minute. Suspecting my brother of betraying me and confirming are two very different things. After all of this is said and done, I’ll have no one.” Bane went to say something, but locked his jaw. “I need to do it. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

Nodding, we continued to drive as I got my thoughts together.

At the edge of town, Bane parked the car in an old church parking lot. For the last hour he’d been prepping me for the phone call as he went through various scenarios. It must be tiring to be a secret government agent person. Bond was the only thing I could honestly relate to him. Except there was no
M
giving out orders or a
Q
giving us special spy equipment. It was us figuring this out—alone.

Bane pulled out a cell phone, cords, and a laptop. While he did techy-type things, I looked out the window and watched a few flakes fall. Snow was beautiful as it freely fell from the atmosphere to the ground. I went over the basics of how to act on the phone call.

Remain unemotional.

Don’t allow yourself to be surprised.

Think before each word you say.

Prepare for the worst.

The list went on and on. Bane’s hand touched my leg. “Angel, I promise there’s other ways if you don’t want to.”

There was no time to second-guess my decision. “Is the phone ready?”

Bane handed me the phone. “Just hit send.”

Hitting the button, the phone rang out in the car since it was on speaker phone. With each ring, I felt myself becoming more nauseous.

“Hello.” I missed my brother’s voice. I’d missed him more than I thought.

I cleared my throat. “Frankie.” The clock timer for five minutes counted down on the dash of the car.

“Sis, no one thought you’d call. Are you okay?”

No one thought I’d call?
I didn’t have friends. This confirmed my worst thought. Bane nodded for me to continue. “Yes. I’m sorry I haven’t called since the incident in the hotel room. I’ve had to lay low.”

“I know. Where are you at?”

Bane shook his head as a reminder and I sidestepped the question. “Are you still in Atlanta?”

“No … I mean … yes.”

That was enough to confirm that Frankie was indeed lying to me after all the time we’d spent together. “Hey, I need to stay low for a little bit longer. I snuck away for a bit to make sure you got the money I wired to pay Tommy Tricks. It went into your account.”

Silence.

More Silence.

Then, Frankie erupted on the other end. “You fucker! You said there hadn’t been any money. I want what’s mine. I told you I’d help get that asshole.”

There was a shuffle and a commotion.

Then another voice came across the line. “Eric—”

The line went dead. I stared at the phone with sadness and empty feelings. Tears flowed freely down my face. Frankie hadn’t cared about me at all. What happened? A sob broke free. I couldn’t take it anymore.

Air.

I needed air.

Now.

What happened to our brotherly-sisterly love? Gasping, I leapt out of the vehicle as my stomach heaved, expelling everything into the pure white snow. I wanted my innocence and purity back from childhood. Bane was at my side in an instant.

“I’m here, angel.” I had to be strong. This was not a time to break.

Bane held my hair as I continued to be sick.
Why, Frankie, why?
My hands shook uncontrollably as I worked on getting control.
Calm down, Maren. This isn’t news.
Deep breaths, helped the heaves subside. I held up my hand. “I’m okay. I needed a second.”

I looked at Bane and he looked murderous. From his touch, I would have never known.

“What’s wrong?”

A chill went through me as Bane’s steel voice cut through the air. “The voice that said Eric’s name at the end of the call, I think is a colleague of mine.”

“Who?”

“Hampton.”

I’D KNOW THAT voice anywhere.

Fucking traitor.

I trusted that motherfucker and he betrayed me. My insides shook with rage. Hampton played me. That lying sack-of-shit played me for who knows how long. I wouldn’t know for sure until I cross-analyzed the voice on the phone with his. I’d recorded our conversation the other day in the cabin. Felicia was at the hospital. I’d verified the admittance records.

Motherfucker.

Maren leaned back over as dry heaves racked her body. I felt ill for her, knowing how the sting of betrayal felt from your own flesh and blood. My mom had been the worst. As a kid, she’d forced me to con women out of money or I’d be beaten black and blue for days. That was until I stood up for myself at fifteen. After that, she never laid a finger on me again. But, I was still called
bastard
until I left for the Marines.

Standing, Maren turned into me and sobbed. I hated this for her and felt like the bastard I was for suggesting she call. There wasn’t a breath of space between us as she clung to me. My body craved to be the comfort she needed, but my heart fought it knowing this was going to all come to an end sooner or later.

Crack.

My mind went into defense mode as I watched the branch on the nearby tree fall to the ground. We were exposed out in the open like this. One well-placed sniper and either one of us could be taken out if someone had been tracking us. “Maren, I need us to get back in the vehicle. We need to get back to the cabin.”

Shopping would have to wait until I further assessed the situation.

Nodding, I swooped her up and rapidly got us in the vehicle. Scanning the streets, nothing seemed out of place. There was hardly anyone out on the road which made identifying possible tails easy. There was no way they’d know I was in Colorado, but it wasn’t worth the chance if somehow I overlooked something. Maren looked out the window as silent tears came down her face.

She needed comfort and I wanted to give it to her.

The tree snapping brought too many memories of Jasmine dying back. It was too close to feeling like a gunshot. So many unanswered questions as to what was actually going on. Guilt plagued me for getting Maren into this situation.

As we drove, my mind tried to fit the pieces together as to what was going on. An involuntary shudder went through her body.

“Maren, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I came into your life and caused all this.”

She sniffled and looked my way. “I’m not.”

I was rendered speechless and something thawed within me.
Focus, Bane. History cannot repeat itself.
Jasmine and Faith came to mind as I remembered what it felt like as my baby fought to survive. My heart ached. Had Hampton been involved with Eric’s survival? Or was something else at play? Hampton had never seemed like a traitor and there’d been pure satisfaction in his eyes when Eric had been executed. What did they have on Hampton? Or had I completely misread him as a person?

Hell, I needed answers and all I was getting was more fucking questions.

I glanced at Maren again. She needed space to process as she watched out the window. Sarge sent me files the day after we’d talked as promised with a detailed dossier of his experience.

Eric Thornhill was a fucking thorn.

A few days after our conversation, a detailed brief had been uploaded with all of Eric’s whereabouts for the last six years. He’d been living in Mexico under the identity of David Churchill for the last five years. A year ago, he came back to the states.

Sarge believed he was closing in on Eric’s location in the Midwest. I assumed Hampton and Frankie were with him. Being centrally located meant that if they found me, they’d have a better chance of getting to me quicker.

For now, I wasn’t disclosing to Sarge that I’d heard Hampton there. Something deep within me … call it instinct, kept me from going there. If I was wrong, Hampton would pay the price.

When Eric was located, I was meeting up with the Black Division for one last hurrah. It would be surprising if anyone was still there that I’d worked with considering the survival rate. This time, when we located that son of a bitch, I was going to be the one to put a bullet in Eric Thornhill.

Maren didn’t know about these plans. I’d make sure she was safe before I left.

“Bane, how do you get past the hurt?” Her voice caught as she spoke.

Maren knew from my nightmare alone that I had issues. I looked at her and her red rimmed eyes softened me. “For me it was time and revenge.”

“Did revenge help?”

Had it helped completely? No. Hell what did I know about healing. “Probably not. But it gave me something to focus on. Maybe it never goes away but only dulls with time.”

“Have you tried forgiveness?”

“Forgiveness?”

Turning my way, Maren watched me, truly curious. “Yes, forgiving yourself for what happened to cause your nightmares. You’re a good man, Bane.”

“Some things aren’t worth forgiving. Would you forgive Frankie after all he’s done? He tried to whore you out for money.”

My words caused her to flinch and I regretted them, but couldn’t retract them. Maren challenged the very core of my existence. “Yes, I would. I’d forgive but never forget.”

Well hell, I had no words as we drove the rest of the way to the cabin in silence. Her words made me reflect. Forgiveness from the unforgivable. Was it deserved?

Maren knew I needed the silence as we got out of the vehicle and made our way into the cabin. I needed to make sure it was Hampton’s voice I heard on the other line before I threw out any accusations. I got my laptop and sat it on the arm of the couch as I downloaded the voice into my recognition software. Grabbing a blanket, Maren laid across my lap. The touch brought me comfort.